National Republican., 1887-05-05
Prison KefOrnn.

The system adopted at the Folsom state
prison, one of the penitentiaries of Cali.
fornia, possesses features that should at.
tract the attention of those who are inter.
ested, as every one is, In the reformation OF
criminals.
The theory upon which this prison is con-
Quoted is that iileneas and physical degen-
eracy, caused by want of fixed habits, is
the cause Of crime, and the principle upon
which the institution Is run is to restore
the health, impress, by the convlcts own
volitlon, the necessity Of obeying the laws,
and having regular occupation.
When prisoner first arrives he is re-
quired to bathe, adopt the prison uniform,
and is instructed In the rules He eats at
what is called the first table, and is not per-
mitted outside the prison building The
prison fare though sufficient is not in-
viting.
The prisoner soon finds out that other
inmates are getting much better food than
he receives, and upon inquiry learns that
there are men who voluntarily work and
receives those extras because OF that
Nearly every prisoner upon the receipt Of
this information expresses desire to work
ard is permitted to do so.
Having expressed the desire and gone to
word the prisoner finds great difference
in the fare furnished him. He now receives
three good meals per day, well served, and
comes to 1t with an appetite sharpened by
labor. Almost all the work at this prison
is in the open air. As rule the prisoner
at the beginning cannot do much work, but
he acquires the habit, and knowing that
should he fail he will return to the first fare,
he endeavors to live up to the rules and do
the required amount of work.
As the muscles harden and he improves
in skill he feels differently, looks differ
emily, acts differently, and thinks differ
emily, and finally establishes himself as a
fixture at the second table.
But he finds that he has not yet attained
the best that can be had in the prison; that
there is another table where still better
food and more abundant is served. This
stimulates him to do still better work, that
lie may reach the class entitled to this
excellent fare. IL upon close watch and
careful scrutiny Of a mans work 1t is found
that he is entitled, he is placed there on
probation and receives the fare given at the
third table, which Is, for breakfast mutton
chops or beefsteak, potatoes, stewed beans,
five days in the week; corn bread, two
days, hot rolls, syrup and coffce for dinner,
two days in the week, soup OF barley,
macaroni, beans, or Of rice and vegetable:
two days, roast beef; one day, cornbeef and
cabbage; four days, roast mutton; two days,
boiled rice; one day, saurkrout; two days,
salad; bread, potatoes, beans, bread pud
ding, and tea daily; for supper, four days,
mutton chops or beeisteak; two days, NUT
ton or beef stew and hash; three days,
cake; three days, cracked wheat aud oat-
meal one day, stewed apples and stewed
prunes; bread, potatoes, beans, syrup, and
tea daily.
The prisoner once having arrived TO the
dignity OF the third table hardly ever
relapses, and arriving there he has ac-
quired two things that he did not have, and
that were probably the cause OF his having
been sent to the prison; that is, the habit
OF obeying law, for in that respect the
prison rules are inlexible, and the habit OF
continued labor.
The prisoner, when the time for his
discharge comes, has learned that by the
obedience TO law and by labor he can
provide himself with the best OF food, and
the probabilities are better, thus earned by
Ifs honest labor in prison, than he ever
secured by'dlshonest practices outside oil